(BLOOMINGTON) – The City of Bloomington Common Council’s Jack Hopkins Social Services Funding Committee invites social services agencies serving the needs of City of Bloomington residents to apply for 2019 grant funding. This year, the Committee has $305,000 to distribute.
Applications are available at the Committee’s webpage http://bloomington.in.gov/jack-hopkins. Applications are due by Monday, 01 April 2019, 4:00 pm.
Named in honor of former Councilmember Jack Hopkins who helped establish the program in 1993, the program is dedicated to funding projects that improve the lives of the City’s most vulnerable residents. Vulnerable residents include those who are low- to moderate-income, under 18 years of age, elderly, people with a disability, or otherwise disadvantaged. Since the program’s inception, the City has allocated over $4.15 million to local social services agencies.
The Committee is composed of five members of the Bloomington Common Council and two City residents with experience in social services. Council members serving are Allison Chopra (Chair), Dorothy Granger, Isabel Piedmont-Smith, Andy Ruff, and Susan Sandberg. The citizen appointments are Kaye Lee Johnson and Nidhi Krishnan.
Committee Chair Allison Chopra advises that “[t]he Committee thoroughly considers each application for the probability of success and maximum impact so that tax dollars are spent efficiently and effectively.”
This year the Committee is continuing the policy changes implemented within the last few years, including encouraging collaborative applications, requiring outcome indicators, and recommending funds be spent in 2019. The Committee is continuing one additional change launched in 2016: it is accepting applications for operational funds that do not meet one of the exceptions to the Committee’s long-standing, one-time funding rule (pilot, bridge, or collaborative). Any request for operational funds should be accompanied by a well-developed plan for future funding.
Criteria
In general, applications must meet the following criteria:
- The program should address a previously-identified priority for social services funds (as indicated in the SCAN Report, City’s Housing and Neighborhood Development department’s Consolidated Plan, or other community-wide surveys of social service needs);
- The funds should provide a one-time investment that, through matching funds or other fiscal leveraging, makes a significant contribution to the program; and
- This investment in the program should lead to broad and long-lasting benefits to the community.
- Interested applicants should further consult the Committee’s funding criteria as outlined on the Committee’s webpage: http://bloomington.in.gov/jack-hopkins.
Important Dates
- Technical Assistance Meeting – Tuesday, March 19 at 4 p.m. in the Hooker Room (#245)
- Application Deadline – Monday, April 1 at 4 p.m.
- Invited Agencies Present Applications – Thursday, May 2 at 5:30 pm Council Chambers
- Committee Recommends Allocation of Funds – Monday, May 13. at, 5:30 pm, McCloskey
- Agencies sign Funding Agreements – early June 2019
- Common Council Acts on Committee Recommendations – Wednesday, June 12
- HAND Technical Assistance Meeting for Grantees On Claims & Reimbursements – Tuesday, June 18, at 8:30 a.m., McCloskey Room
